Scooting?

My Rachel-girl can scoot! She started scooting last week and is now a pro! She is a lot less fussy because she can just go after what ever it is that she wants. She used to fuss at me when I left the room, but now she just follows me. She is still learning and so she doesn't get very far very fast. . . yet. So usually if she is coming to find me, I get back to the room she was in before she has actually left it, but I think it is really cute to see her trying to come find me. What can I say, she loves me. :)

So, a good friend of mine recommended a book to me because she knew we were having nap time and sleep time problems. It is called The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracy Hogg. It talks about getting your baby on a routine and it talks about how to teach your baby to go to sleep on her own without just letting her cry it out. I started implementing some of the things from the book yesterday and so far it has worked great. Usually I have to nurse Rachel to get her to sleep. That isn't actually too bad. The bad part is that Rachel also wants to nurse the entire time she is asleep. Occasionally I can sneak away from her, but she never sleeps for very long after I leave her. The method in the book is to stay by her crib at first and if she cries pick her up, and as soon as she stops crying to immediately lay her back down. Eventually she will get the the point where she won't need to be picked up anymore.

Yesterday, Rachel slept in her crib for both of her naps (which never happens) and then went down to bed for the night in her crib as well. Both of her naps were about 1 1/2 hours long and I didn't even have to nurse her to get her to sleep! I am so excited about this. We aren't to the point where I can just put her in her bed and she goes to sleep without crying yet, but I am quite excited at how things are going after just one day of this. We did have a little set back last night though. I laid Rachel down in her crib and the little stinker figured out how to sit herself up. Don't get me wrong, it is fun to see her figure out new things, but every time I laid her down she would just sit up and then she wanted to play. According to the book you are supposed to keep laying them down when they do this so they know it is time for bed. So I kept laying her down and she kept sitting up. Eventually I decided I needed to think about things, so I sat on my bed for a minute and when I looked back at Rachel she was standing up in her crib! She pulled herself up to standing all by herself which she hasn't ever done before. I hurried over and laid her back down, but she pulled herself to standing maybe 5 or 6 times before she gave in and fell asleep. I can't believe it.

My 6 month old in the last week has figured out how to scoot, sit herself up, and now pull herself to a standing position. All in one week! What is she going to be doing next week? Crawling? Walking? Running? I don't really think she will be doing those things next week, but it is just so crazy how much she has figured out all ready. She is so fun! I'm so glad I get to stay home with her and watch her figure out every little thing. I'm excited to see what she learns next!

Yum. . . a couch!

Rachel was so funny one day. I helped her stand at the couch and here is what she kept doing.

First she would look at me. . .

Then she would bury her face in the couch and just leave it there for a while. I think she was licking it, but I can't be sure.

Then she would look back up at me as if to say, "You've got to try this thing!"

What a silly girl!

Mirror Friend

Rachel was so funny again about seeing herself in the mirror. She loved the huge mirror and she loved that she was able to touch it. Jacob stood her up to the mirror and she promptly leaned forward and kissed the baby in the mirror. It was so cute, I was glad that for once I had my camera ready! She stood there and kissed that mirror baby for at least 30 seconds. It was pretty cute!

Here is a little video of what Rachel does when she sees herself in the mirror.

Car Seat Friends

Rachel has a few toys that are hooked to the top of her car seat and she gets excited when she sees them when we are putting her in her seat. It was so cute the other day we got her out of the car to take her into the store and she had fallen asleep holding on to one of her "friends." How sweet is this!

I love my sweet little baby! There is just something about a sleeping baby that just melts your heart every time!

San Angelo Mall

We found a fun mall in San Angelo. From the outside I saw the usual stores like JC Penny and Dillards and since San Angelo is a smaller town that St. George, I assumed that the mall would be smaller or similar that the one here. Boy was I wrong. The mall in San Angelo was way cooler! My sister Julie had been telling me about a fun place that her family likes to eat at sometimes that I had never heard of. The place was Chick-fil-a. I hadn't ever heard of it before she had told me about it but we were excited to find out that there were a few of them in San Angelo, more specifically there was one in the mall. With all of her raving about the place, we decided we had to try it. She said we had to get their fresh squeezed lemonade because it was the best. She was right! Everything we had there was absolutely delicious. Jacob and I both got the spicy chicken sandwich and waffle fries with some lemonade. This was our first night together and just the sugar from the lemonade put me over the top sugar wise. On our way out though, we saw a Dippin Dots. I hadn't seen one of those for a lot of years and Jacob hadn't ever seen one. We went over just to get a sample (because they are so expensive) and both ended up buying some. It was so fun and yummy! Rachel loved it too!

Even though they had lots of fun food and other fun stores there at the mall, my favorite part was the big children's play area. They had all sorts of things for kids to climb and play on. Here are a few pictures of Rachel "playing" in the play area.

Growing up in St. George with the small little mall that it has, I never knew that a mall could be so much fun! I hope we have a fun mall we can go play at when we get to Tucson!